where are you at? seoul?

if you were convicted then yes. They want you to get it from the state. If the charges were dropped or you got diversion then its not on there.

In short, if you were fingerprinted for the crime, you're SOL

I have minors of consumption (alcohol) that don't show up on my criminal record

I got in trouble a few times. I got juvenile court, diversion, and paid a fine. I went to the state police department and got my record check and there was nothing there. So, it might be worth checking out....

doesnt all that juvenile stuff clear once you turn 21 or something like that

technically yes. Commercial background check companies are slow to update...though companies cant technically use it against you

I don't really see why it would, after 18 you're considered an adult so it's not "juvenile" stuff. (FTR I got all of them between the ages of 19-21)

Just head down to your local bureau of criminal apprehension (not sure what it might be called in other states) and ask for one. It was free for me to look at, and like $7 for a copy

yeah those probably won't clear then. MIPs are so lame.

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Yeah, even a dot on your record will disqualify you. That goes doubly for now with the huge influx of applicants and a not so huge amount of jobs left. They making it harder to get all of the paperwork and making the prerequisites a lot stricter to weed out the field.

Yep, down in the SW corner of the city. Finding more games or people to play would be pretty sweet.

Man, it's been a nice trip. But I need a break.

This country is slowly wearing me out. I've had a great time and this place is certainly awesome. But I need a break and a change of scenery. I could go back to America, spend some time with my family, grab a teaching cert or two and live in another part of South Korea. Heck, I'm not sure if I will come back. With the increase in applicants, they're making the paperwork process much harder to weed some people out.

I guess I get bored easily and need constant change in my life. Maybe I'm just getting bored of the cruddy area I live. I wonder if anybody else is in the same boat.

It's pretty cool seeing other americans in S. Korea. I've never been to Masan though. Cool place?

I live up in Pyongtaek pretty nice there. Although when I drink with korean girls we dont sip our soju we take it in one shot...maybe where you are from it's different?

goddamit:

Nah. I shoot it.

And Masan is not really too cool.

It's amazing how much I learned about Korea in a short time span. God, I was so ignorant back when this thread started compared to now.

Was a tefl cert a requirement? looking back after a year there, any tips/ advices u can offer (to someone fresh out of college, and really interested in going) that differ from when u first started? is it harder to get positions in Seoul?
ne idea if it would be possible to be hired to korea, if ur an American applying in a different country? (basic plan is to holiday in asia for a few months next year, but was wondering if it u could forsee ne problems in the hiring process, if the applicant is on holiday in say japan or china. (but again has American passport, bachelors degree, email and phone access 24/7.)

thx, for the thread superbob, really insightful posts!

TEFL cert - not a requirement, but it'll get you a 100,000W/month pay boost for public schools.

Not really honestly. I would just emphasize that learning to read/write Korean before coming here will be extremely helpful when you first start here. Learning basic phrases will be beneficial as well. Also, Korean friends are a huge ticket to getting laid. I regret not making them quickly enough.

Seoul will not hire inexperienced teachers to work in their public school system. You have to have a significant amount of teaching experience to get in there. But it's gravy when you do. They pay much more than everywhere else. As for hagwons, yeah not too hard. There are a ****-ton of hagwons all throughout the country. But be careful. These places can be really shady and often shut down, thus leaving you without a job or place to stay.

My friend is an American who was teaching in Japan. He quit his job, took the ferry over from Fukuoka and came over to Korea. The paperwork will be a pain in the ass to do from overseas though.

I just found out I'm getting orders to South Korea. I'll be there in March. I'm gonna read through this thread after work and probably ask some questions

--saying one has an e2 visa to teach and a few weeks off, are you allowed to bunch your vacation days close together and travel outside the country for a holiday?
---other than seoul in major cities such as busan, Bundang, Ulsan, Changwon, Daegu or other large cities, do you feel a sense of "who is this guy" if you were to say walk into a bar or club. what i mean is say u go out alone with no-limited korean, and strike up a conversation, do u get a feeling of being welcomed, or a feeling of "why is this guy here and not speaking korean". Is your nightlife options limited to foreigner bars, or foreigner friendly bars in whatever town/city you might be put in?

So I browsed this thread some and I'm pretty stoked to be heading to Korea. I'm in the Marines and am getting 24 month orders there in the spring.

A couple of questions, I've never dealt with a VPN before and it seems that it's pretty random whether your ISP blocks pokerstars or not. Also, I'm planning to whore bonuses while I'm out there on european sites....so it seems I'll need one.

Should I set up a VPN before I leave? Or can I set it up when I get there?

Thanks!

You can set up the VPN when you get here or before you leave. I use StrongVPN. Also, I'm pretty sure Pokerstars isnt blocked in most of Korea, however, Fulltilt etc are

Awesome

Thank you. I'm pretty stoked, I've got 24 month orders there. I'm not sure where exactly I'll be, but I hope to find out tomorrow.

My province (Kyungnam) has its own native teacher program called EPIK (English Program in Korea). According to their contract, you get 10 vacation days during the summer and 11 during the winter. However, those days are "calendar days" meaning that they include the weekends.

You have to put in for the days about a month in advance and they must be authorized by your school. The gist is that you'll only be able to use them during the breaks and not during the school year. You HAVE to bunch them all in one string. They don't allow for anything else. I've tried otherwise and it failed.

They cannot tell you where you can travel. It's none of their business. Though the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education is strongly recommending that people do not travel out of the country, people do it anyway.

Foreigner bars are pretty much the anti get laid places in Korea. I have never heard of anybody ever picking up a person there and having a one night stand. The foreigner network is just too small and localized to do that. There's no sense of anonymity. Even the Koreans at those bars are hard to get for that.

I haven't gone solo to any bars in cities outside of Seoul. So, I cannot tell you much about that. I mostly stick to foreigner bars and not Korean bars, mainly because I speak no/very little Korean and everybody outside of the foreigner bars in Masan only speak Korean.

I believe you have to have a working knowledge of the language to get anywhere with Korean women. Not completely fluent, but at least be able to say a few small bits and pieces to keep a person interested. Being some foreigner schmuck who only speaks English is probably not the best way to get anywhere with women unless they are also bilingual.

Rekrul knows way more about this than I do. He'll probably have a better answer.